Teaching Expectations

The expectation of your contract is that you will be present for all class meetings, including when your class meets in the library for library instruction. However, extenuating circumstances do arise.

Writing courses work best when they meet regularly and often, and when students are part of a thriving writing community. To this end, you should plan to hold and be present for every scheduled class meeting of the semester, whether that time is devoted to instruction and active learning, workshops, or student conferences.

If you must miss a class, please find a sub. Laws around compensation prevent subs from being paid person-to-person, so we encourage you to find a fellow teacher with whom you can swap classes. This way, students can still have an in-person learning experience, and subs can be compensated through exchanged labor. Classes should only be Zoomed in cases where you do not have the lead time to find a sub (e.g., illness, emergency, acts of nature). Student conferences may be held on Zoom when it is the best option for you and your students. Canceling class is a last resort option that should only occur in the case of an emergency that prevents you from either getting a sub or Zooming your class.

For every three-credit class you teach, you are expected to host office hours for at least one hour each week at a regularly scheduled time so students can meet with you to ask questions or receive additional help. You can hold your office hours in person, over Zoom, or by appointment.

The department staff will contact you before the start of every semester to find out your office hours so they can update the information posted next to your office door. Also be sure to advertise your office hours on your syllabus.

Adjunct faculty must use a learning management system (LMS)—Learning Suite or Canvas—so students can access course information (including the syllabus), communicate with instructors and classmates, complete assignments, participate in online discussions, take exams, and complete other learning activities.

Most full-time and adjunct faculty use Learning Suite, and it is especially helpful for freshman to have all of their courses on one platform. Every August the Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL) offers in-person and online training to help you use Learning Suite or Canvas. CTL also demonstrates the new features each LMS has to offer instructors and students every August as well.

• Learning Suite Training & Resources: softwaresupport.byu.edu/learning-suite/instructor
• Canvas Training & Resources: byu.instructure.com/courses/4038

You’re responsible for creating a syllabus for your class, which gives you the chance to set your class’s constitution and share your thoughts on and enthusiasm for the course. For ideas on what to include and how to organize it, you can view other faculty’s syllabi at BYU’s Syllabi Directory (syllabus.byu.edu).

To create a syllabus, you can use Learning Suite’s or Canvas’s syllabus builder or Word or Google Docs (be sure to post it as a PDF under Learning Suite’s Syllabus tab). However you create your syllabus, make sure you have all of the required information.

Required information

• The Basics
  
  • Semester and year
  • Class time and location
  • Course description and learning outcomes
  • Your name, office hours, and contact information
  • Required materials and any additional costs students may incur
• Grading Policies
  
  • Grade scale
  • Final grade breakdown: Assignments and their point- or weight-value
• Class Policies
  

  • Attendance: The department doesn’t have a department-wide attendance policy, but UW does. WRTG courses must have attendance policies, and adjuncts can choose between the two following polices:

    Attendance Policy A: Absences will begin to affect your final grade after the second or third absence (depending on whether the class is held twice or three times a week). Late arrivals can count as absences if they're egregious or frequent, and missing more than one-third of the class will count as an absence. Each succeeding absence after this allowance will lower your semester grade by a third of a letter grade (i.e., from a B to a B-).

    Attendance Policy B: Absences will begin to affect your final grade after the second or third absence (depending on whether your class is held twice or three times a week). Late arrivals can count as absences if they're egregious or frequent, and missing more than one-third of the class will count as an absence. Each succeeding absence after this allowance will lower your semester grade by a third of a letter grade (i.e., from a B to a B-). However absences alone will not lower your grade below a C-.

    More information on attendance
    

    • Keep accurate attendance records. You may want to email an attendance policy reminder to students who miss class more than two or three times.
    • Work with students who have attendance accommodations and follow the recommendations given in their Accessibility letters. It's a good idea to meet with these students early in the semester and create a written contract for attendance expectations.
    • You can be flexible with the attendance policy for students with BYU-excused absences (athletes and performers) and students who get sick. You may require a doctor’s note—be sure to include this requirement in your syllabus.
  • Late work
• Final Exam: date, time, and location (classroom, testing center, or home)
• BYU Policies (teaching.byu.edu/syllabus-statements)
  
  • “Honor Code”
  • “Preventing & Responding to Sexual Misconduct” 
  • “Student Disability”
• College of Humanities: “College of Humanities Statement on Belonging” (hum.byu.edu/statement-on-inclusion)

Optional information

• Assignment schedule (if not included in your syllabus, it should be listed on Learning Suite or Canvas) 
• Resubmission opportunities
• Extra Credit
• “Plagiarism” (teaching.byu.edu/syllabus-statements)
• The College of Humanities’ “Teaching with Artificial Intelligence” > “Sample AI Policy for Your Syllabus.” You can access this by going to Humanities Faculty and Staff Commons (humfacultystaff.byu.edu) > Guidelines and Policies tab. 
• “Mental Health” (teaching.byu.edu/syllabus-statements)

Adjunct faculty are expected to grade and return assignments promptly, taking no more than two weeks after receiving them. Generally, when grading major writing assignments, adjunct faculty should use a rubric, which students should receive with the assignment’s instructions, and include a brief note after the rubric, listing 2-3 things the student does well as a writer and 2-3 things the student can do to improve as a writer in the future.

At the end of the semester, you must submit final grades through Learning Suite (or AIM if you use Canvas). Be sure to submit final grades on time! The day and time final grades must be submitted by each semester can be found on the BYU academic calendar.

Adjunct faculty are also expected to keep student grades confidential in accordance with FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act). You cannot share information about a student’s grade with other students, fellow faculty, or parents without written consent from the student. Instructors must complete online FERPA training, which must be renewed every two years. For questions about FERPA, you can visit enrollment.byu.edu/registrar/records-privacy-ferpa or talk with a course coordinator.

Adjunct faculty must give a final exam. Final exams can be due at your class’s assigned final time (you can find your assigned time on AIM > Class Rolls) or on the last day of finals; they should not be scheduled or due on the last day of class, during reading days, or before your assigned final time.

Finals exams can be tests, presentations, essays, etc. They can be completed in the testing center, in your classroom during your assigned final exam time, or at home. At the start of the semester, announce when the final exam is due and if students need to take it in the testing center, classroom, or at home. Also include this information in your syllabus.

Near the end of the semester, your students will receive an email from the university asking them to complete a confidential online rating of their classes. Encourage students to complete an evaluation of your class (offer extra credit!); their feedback will help you improve your teaching and class.

When the student ratings window closes (generally on the last day of classes), you can see on the student ratings website (studentratings.byu.edu/) your class’s overall rating and which students completed an evaluation. You will not be able to view how your students rated you in the different categories and their comments until after grades have been posted.

Once grades have been posted, you can fully access your student ratings and comments. The department and UW can also access your student ratings and comments and will review them each semester. If you would like to discuss your student ratings and comments with someone, you can contact your course coordinator or the College of Humanities’ CTL consultant.

If a student makes an inappropriate comment, flag it so the administration can address it with the student.

Every three years, adjunct faculty are assigned to and work with a full-time faculty partner to complete a performance review. New adjunct faculty hires are reviewed after two semesters of teaching. Performance reviews rotate between two options:

Review A: Teaching Observation + Review of Teaching Documents and Student Ratings

Review B: Teaching Observation + Professional Development Project (designed by the adjunct faculty member)

While performance reviews are conducted once every three years, adjunct faculty can reach out to their full-time faculty partners for help and assistance during "off" review years. If you do not know who your faculty partner is, contact the Writing Coordinator.

Each Fall and Winter semester adjunct faculty can participate in an optional peer teaching observation program. Participating adjuncts receive a $100 stipend for observing a fellow adjunct's WRTG class and writing a brief reflection on what they learned. These observations are scheduled by the Adjunct Liaison.